The Hit Series
by eppie-chan
Summary: Connor takes a hit in battle for Kira and things happen.


"The Hit Series"

Taking The Hit

"And now, red ranger I will hurt one of your little friends!" said Elisa as she shot out a wave of green light and not thinking, Connor rushed forward and blocked the green wave as it headed right for Kira. The blast hit the red ranger right in the chest, leaving him badly wounded. The black, blue and yellow rangers looked upon the fallen leader with sick and shocked looks on their faces.

"CONNOR!" yelled the yellow ranger.

"Oh no," said the blue dino ranger.

"This is not good," said the black ranger.

The yellow ranger involuntary raised one of her hands to her mouth to stile the gasp she had uttered while she saw her teammate take the hit. "No... oh no..." was all the female ranger could muster when she saw him try to get up and help finish the monster.

"I'm okay guys... let's just finish this..." said the red ranger in between intakes of breath.

The other rangers helped him up, the yellow leading the two others who were covering for her and the injured red ranger. The rangers put together all of their weapons and sent the monster to who-knows-where as it blew up in shower of sparks. Mesagogg made the monster grow and the rangers all went to their zords to help finish the monster up for good till the next one. With a well-timed punch and strike, the bad guy went down for good this time and the rangers all climbed out of the zords and powered down.

Connor was holding his side and fainted when he tried to stay up on his feet. Kira grabbed hold of one of his hands and gave it a squeeze and Tommy made sure no-one was watching them as they teleported to the base inside his house. Connor opened his eyes a little to dimly make out a head of light brown hair with bright yellow ribbons in them that he knew was Kira.

"Is he gonna be okay Dr. O?" asked Evan as he helped Kira get Connor over to a nearby cot.

"You're okay," said Connor to the auburn-haired girl as he tried to get up but the firm hand of Tommy Oliver made the red ranger stay still.

"Thanks to you I'm fine. It's you I'm more worried about," said Kira and it was then that Connor lost conscience.

Tommy looked to Evan after allowing the brief exchange between Connor and Kira.

"Given time I think he will be fine. But he was lucky, if it's one thing I've learned while being a ranger it's to never take anything for granted, since your life could end so quickly. Not that I think Connor's going to die, but it's just something to think about in case something like this happens again," said Tommy and he started to hunt for the first-aid kit. Kira was beside herself, thinking that if only she had been faster to help him when they were fighting.

If only she had helped him deflect the attack. If only she had... "Kira, stop with the 'if only' and come and help me please," said Tommy in teacher mode as he glanced up at her seeing if she was hurt as well. When he found she wasn't, he pulled he over to the cot and his tone of voice told her to put the guilt and worry aside and help her friend. Since the wound was on Connor's right side and close to his stomach, Tommy knew he'd have an easier reach of the area if Conner's red shirt was loosened and pulled up some to observe the wound. Handing Kira the shirt and getting some gauze pads and some water, Tommy started to try to stop the blood and to clean up the indent on Connor's skin. After pressing some, the blood stopped flowing out of the wound quite as much and he was able to put a bandage on the site as well as some medicine. The black ranger knew that he'd be feeling _that_ in the morning.

Tommy was finished and left the patient to rest and sleep off the pain. True, being a ranger meant that you had healing powers and that you recovered after each battle, but getting to the stage where you didn't go "OW!!!" every time you sat up was the hard part. It was then that he noticed that Kira was still holding onto Connor's red shirt in one hand and the other was laced firmly into the red ranger's other hand. Funny, she was taking this very hard, as if he was more than just his teammate.

"Kira, it's not your obligation to try to save everyone all the time. You can't do it all, he backed you up, you back him up. Stop blaming yourself," said Tommy as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"But I was there, I could have helped him, stopped the attack even and I didn't! I was right there and I didn't take the hit for him! Why didn't I?" asked Kira in anger and anguish.

With tears in her eyes, she asked the young man in black pants who was lying on a cot, "Why did you have to take that hit for me? Why?"

Seeing that she needed to reassure herself about Connor's health, Tommy pulled Evan away and into the main part of his house to get some drinks and ice for any injuries they might have.

"She's taking what happened to Connor pretty hard, isn't she Dr. O?" asked Evan as he got an ice pack on his arm. "Well, it's different when it gets personal, Evan."

"What does?" asked the blue ranger.

"The fight. When it changes and it becomes personal, there is no going back," said Tommy and he recalled his own time when he had to choose love over the greater good. The older of the two nursing their wounds knew that the yellow and red rangers, Connor and Kira didn't know the fight had become personal for them yet. They didn't know or see that they had some deeper connection then just friends and just teammates. They didn't see it.

But Tommy did, having been there himself. It was only a matter of time before the two would see it for themselves and when that day came, he hoped that it would not end up like his own past. He hoped for that with all of his being.

END

Aftermath of The Hit

After a few hours of staying over to see how Connor was doing, Evan had to get home or his folks might start to wonder about him. Tommy understood and let him go. The teacher had tried to convince Kira to go home since there was nothing she could really do but make herself sick over the fallen teenager but she would not leave his side. She refused to and so the teacher knew that when it was at this stage the only thing he could do was wait for the two of them to realize it.

"Well at least call your mom to tell her where you are since if you're not back by dinnertime she will surely miss you," said her teacher and he did have a point.

"Wait. I'm grounded so I kinda have to go home or my mom will really make my life heck. Call me if there's any change though," said the student in yellow and the teacher nodded. She didn't know how she got home but she did and somehow she knew she had to act as if nothing was going wrong in her life since she didn't want her mom asking questions.

All through dinner her mind was not on her food. She kept replaying the fight over and over in her mind, she was sick with worry over him, her friend.

"Okay, what's going on," said her mother. "What?" asked Kira. "You haven't been listening to a word I've said all evening. So, did something happen at school?" asked her mother. Kira knew she had to tell her mother something, just to tell someone about it.

"Well, this guy named Connor took a hit for me at school. It was some jerk who thought he could get something more from me than he really could. Anyway, Connor told him to stop and cut it out and the guy jumped him and Connor--Connor got hu-hurt. Really hurt before someone broke it up," said Kira as fresh tears stung her eyes.

"Oh honey. No wonder you're so upset," said her mother who knew that unless she missed her guess that this Connor person was more than just a friend to her daughter but that Kira didn't realize it yet as she came over from her side of the dinner table to comfort her daughter.

"Dr. Oliver-- who saw the whole thing told me that I shouldn't blame myself, but I could have stopped it! I could have and now he's hurt and it's all my fault!" said the teen as her mother's arms held her tightly.

"I'm sure he'll be alright by tomorrow, Kira. I have a feeling he wouldn't want you to worry so about him. Unless you have a reason too," said her mother and Kira looked at her.

"What the-- are you saying what I think you're saying?" asked the auburn haired teen.

Her mother said, "Well you are taking this a little hard, Kira. If he's not anything to you other than a best friend you'd never know by the way you're acting."

Kira knew she had to get out of there and fast if she wanted to make it through the rest of the night.

"Look, all of this has really drained me so I'm gonna go to my room and take a nap for a while. Ok?" asked Kira.

"Sure honey. I understand," said her mother and Kira walked off after putting her dishes into the dishwasher. Once in her room Kira tried to sleep but sleep wouldn't come.

END

Coming Back From The Dark

With a slight groan of pain, Connor opened his eyes to see Tommy looking at him.

"Where am I?" asked the slightly out of it red ranger.

"You're safe. In the base. Can I get you anything?" asked Tommy and the red ranger nodded.

"Yeah, some food would be nice, I'm starving." A short while the black ranger returned with some soup to give to his student and Connor took it gratefully.

"Why did I heal so fast?" asked Connor.

"The gems helped. The gems will help all of you when you go into battle but it will still take time to get back to full strength," said Tommy and Connor nodded.

"Where's the others?" asked the red ranger, looking around for Kira and Evan.

"Went home last night. When I fixed your soup I e-mailed Evan to tell him you're awake but I haven't tried Kira yet," said Tommy and Connor nodded.

"Were they worried about me?" asked the red ranger and Tommy didn't know what he should answer.

"Evan was concerned but didn't outwardly show it if that's what you mean. As for Kira though, she really took it hard," said Tommy and Connor didn't know what to make of this.

"Funny, I never thought she'd care that much," said Connor as he thought about that.

"Kira will be glad to hear that you're doing better, though," said Tommy who deliberately said her name to see what reaction that got out of him. As he thought the teen jumped slightly and looked around as if not wanting to hear the name of the lovely yellow songbird.

He went on saying, "If she comes to see you later and tries to tell you that it was her fault, don't let her do it. You are the only one she'll listen to."

"Why in the world would she think it _was_ her fault? She was in the line of fire; I would have done that if she were Evan or you. I did what I did to save her; she didn't make the decision to block the blast from hitting her. I did," said Connor.

"Then why do I feel so bad?" asked a voice and both Tommy and Connor looked up at the sound. They found Kira dressed in a yellow top and black jeans ready for the day ahead at school.

"And on that note I think I will go and make sure I have all of my papers ready for my classes," said Tommy as he went out to leave them alone.

Once they were alone, Connor started to talk.

"Kira, you don't have to worry about me so much. I'm getting better; Dr. O told me that the gems helped me to get better. That they do that for all of us," said the red ranger and the yellow ranger took his hand, saying, in a soft voice, "But I still think it was all my fault. If I hadn't been where I was, you wouldn't have--"

His lips meeting hers in a sweet, tender kiss cut the yellow ranger off.

_**Holy CLAMP does he know what he's doing? Nah, he's still out of it from yesterday. It has to be the meds he was on. Yeah, that's it**_, thought Kira as the kiss came to its ending.

_Okay, so it's not the best way of shutting her up but it did work. Although I hope she doesn't shoot me for this later_, thought Connor as he broke the kiss.

"Sorry to interrupt, but uh, school's gonna start soon and as much as I know you'd love to skip it, Kira, you can't," said Tommy.

_**Okay, that so did not effect me in any way, shape or form. Nope, didn't happen**_, thought Kira as she tried to clear her mind of the haze she was under.

_What in the name of CLAMP was I thinking, doing that just now? Oh great, things will forever be unbearable,_ thought Connor.

As Tommy pushed open the hidden door to the lab/base/command center under his house, he glanced at his watch.

"Kira needs to get going if she wants to be at school on time. I hope Connor's convinced her to not blame herself," said Tommy, thinking out loud.

What he found when he opened the door was Kira and Connor.

Kissing.

He smiled at the sight of the two, lost in the haze that was young love. His mind flashed back to when it was he who was the injured one and there was another auburn-haired young woman there with him. _And I wonder who was the one that started this. Hmm, I can't wait to find out. Well, things will certainly be interesting around here for awhile_, thought Tommy as the two broke the kiss and looked each other in the eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt, but uh, school's gonna start soon and as much as I know you'd love to skip it, Kira, you can't," said Tommy.

"Right, I'll see you after school," said the yellow ranger, making sure she didn't meet Connor's eyes.

"Yeah, I'll see ya then," said Connor, also not meeting her eyes.

Both of them needed time to think about just what they felt for each other and once they figured that out, where to go from there.

All 3 of them knew it was going to be a long day.

END

Nothing Less and Nothing More

That day at school, Kira was a wreak. She didn't know what she was going to do about Connor. She didn't tell Evan yet but she knew that he would find out somehow. She didn't know how that was going to be, just that she knew somehow.

_Okay, I'm in class now. Must pay attention. Well, one day of slacking off isn't going to kill me. I'm very good in this class so if I drift off a little it won't hurt me_.**_So, what do you think about Connor_**? _How do you think I think of Connor? I kissed the guy, didn't I? Well, he kissed me... But I still kissed back. **Yeah, you would. Must get my mind out of the gutter**_.

Kira couldn't think of an answer for that.

Connor wasn't doing any better at the base, sleeping and resting after the hit he'd taken for Kira. The one he'd just kissed.

"Okay, must stop thinking about that. It was a fluke, that's all. It was just to stop her from blaming herself. That's all it was, brain. Get it?"

"Oh shut up, head. Just shut up."

"Do you want me to go insane?"

"Thank you."

Like Kira at school, Connor didn't have answer for the question.

After what seemed like forever, Connor heard the lab being opened and he saw Dr. O enter the room. Tommy had told Connor he'd stop by on his lunch hour to see how he was doing.

"So, how goes it?" asked the former white ranger and although he didn't know it, Tommy had just opened a can of tightly sealed worms.

"Oh I'm just fine, really peachy. I just kissed one of my teammates who could kick my butt from here to Japan if she wanted to and I must say that I rather liked it. And I've just been sitting here obsessing about it all day long. And I don't really like her in that way. At least I don't think I do," said Connor.

"Man, I'd hate to be you," remarked Tommy.

"Why?" asked the red ranger.

"Well, it seems to me that she cares for you a lot. If she didn't her actions for you when you were hit wouldn't have meant as much as they did," pointed out Tommy.

"True. Does she realize that she might feel something for me?"

"How in the world would I know that?" asked Tommy.

"Well she might have said something to you."

"Nope, she didn't. Sorry but you'll get no help from me. It's your problem, you two figure out a way to deal with it," said Tommy as he made his way back to door.

"Okay. See you later, Dr. O," said the red ranger as he once more thought about Kira.

At last lunch came for Kira and Evan who hadn't had time to talk untill then.

"So, did Dr. O tell you about Connor?" asked Evan.

"I stopped by on my way to school and saw him. He's looking better," said Kira.

"Cool. After school let's go and see him," said Evan and she nodded.

"Okay. I hope he still wants to see me," said Kira before she realized what she was saying.

"Why would he not want to see you?" asked Evan.

"Well, we were talking and I don't know what happened, but he just reached over-- and it's not like I wanted him to do it or anything. He just did it," babbled Kira.

"Uh, Kira, call me a busy server, but who did what?"

"He kissed me," said the yellow ranger.

"What!? Uh, why? Not that I really care," said Evan.

"I don't know, he just did it. I was blaming myself about what happened to him and the next thing I know, he's kissing me and I'm kissing back," said Kira and she fell silent.

"Well, all I have to say is that when we go to see him this is gonna be one day both of you will never forget," said Evan.

END

I Don't Know What I Love You For

School was over for the day and Evan and Kira made the trek to Dr. O's house/ranger base. In some ways she wanted to see her fiend again, but in other ways she was scared to death. She didn't know what would happen now. If they did have something and acted on it, then have a fight or something and brought the whole team into it... she didn't want to think that far ahead. She had to see if she really felt that way about him first.

Likewise Connor was thinking the same thing. If they did have something and it backfired on them, the whole team could be at risk for something they both caused. A part of him wanted to see Kira very much. She was his friend and he did miss that. Another part of him wanted to turn tail and run and hide like when Lina Inverse Dragon Slaved something.

"So, how was your day in the land of learning? Learn anything" asked Connor, jokingly.

"I have no idea, I was off thinking about something," confessed Kira.

"I see. Well, Evan, I want to ask you about something involving an e-mail I got today. I think something messed it up. Could you take a look?" asked Tommy and Evan caught on that he wanted to give the some time alone.

"Sure, I'd be happy to. You know what they say, two good heads are better then one." With that the red and the yellow rangers were left alone.

"So, where do you think we should go with this?" asked Connor.

"Well, we do see each other a lot since we are power rangers and all. But then again, if we were to fight or something we might cause someone to get hurt," said Kira and Connor nodded.

"I was thinking of that before you got here. At this point I really don't know how I feel about you. I mean, sure I like you and you are my friend..." the red ranger tailed off.

"What think is that we should give it a go, have a few dates here and there. You know, test the waters and if it turns out it's more of a friends thing then we go back to being that. If it turns out to be more than that, well, then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," said Kira and Connor nodded.

"I was hoping we could at least try. Since we have nothing to loose," remarked Connor.

"Okay then," said Kira.

"Okay," said Connor.

Standing outside of the doorway were Tommy and Evan who had heard the whole thing. No doubt about it, things were going to be very different here from now on.

_Nothing less and nothing more. _

_I don't know what I love you for._

_ Love just is._

END


End file.
